A freshly painted ballot drop box in Forest Grove. Photo: Chas Hundley
Washington County voters have turned in 243,120 ballots as of 4:30 p.m. Thursday, October 29, according to the Washington County Elections office, which represents about 63.01% of eligible voters in the county.Broken down by the four largest registered voting groups, as of the statewide county on Thursday morning (which does not reflect the more recently updated totals directly from Washington County), Washington County had 148,856 eligible Democrats, of which 106,040 have voted for a total turnout of 71.24%; 129,461 non-affiliated voters, of which 57,417 have voted, for a turnout of 44.35%, 83,893 Republicans; of which 50,714 have voted for a turnout of 60.45%, and 16,992 Independents, of which 10,055 have voted for a turnout of 59.17%. Those who have turned in a ballot and are seeking to find out if it has been received by the county elections department should visit Oregonvotes.gov to check the status of their ballot, though it can take between 48 and 72 hours from when a ballot is dropped off at a ballot box perhaps longer for ballots mailed to appear in the system.Election Officials say its too late to drop your ballot in the mail and have any certainty itll arrive at the county elections office in time, so head over to one of Washington Countys 21 official ballot drop sites some of which are open 24 hours a day and slide your envelope on in. Oregon does not accept postmarked ballots after November 3 at 8 p.m. If you risk voting by mail at this juncture, you risk throwing away your vote.
The Washington County Elections Division released the certified election results on Tuesday from the May 20 special district election, including precinct-level data for the election that saw contested school board races in the Forest Grove School District and a Gales Creek resident win election to t
The city of Forest Grove will need to turn elsewhere if it wishes to fund the construction of a new police station. The latest vote tally issued Friday afternoon widened the 'no' vote to a 190-vote lead.
A proposed toll road linking Forest Grove and Tillamook faced opposition, but Gales Creek residents would take any road they could get, according to a 1925 newspaper article.
"County Jail Filled to Overflow With Arrests Made" including Ernest Narver, Frank Kearns, Thomas Young, and Roy Kearns, all arrested at Balm Grove on liquor possession charges in Prohibition-era Gales Creek.
People are shooting exploding targets and firing hot lead into dry vegetation in the Tillamook Forest with predictable results: Five wildfires since May. These fires are all preventable, said Acting Forest Grove District Forester Stephanie Beall.
